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Five foreign firms eye Zambia's mobile phone sector
LUSAKA, Jan 08, 2013 (Xinhua via COMTEX) --
A senior Zambian government official
said on Tuesday that five foreign firms had shown interest in
investing in the provision of mobile phone services, since the
government expressed willingness to open the country's mobile
phone sector for more companies to come last year.
Minister of Communications and Transport Christopher Yaluma
said the government had been talking to some companies that had
shown interest in investing in the sector once it is opened up.
According to him, the country will have another mobile phone
service operator before the end of this year, adding that
currently, the government is working on legal documents to revoke
a ban that was imposed by the previous government for the entry of
another mobile firm.
"As soon as that is done, we shall put an inquiry asking papers
to express interest in investing in the country. We have made
progress in preparing for the fourth mobile operator," he told
private radio, HOT FM.
In 2009, the previous government introduced a law barring the
entrance of a fourth mobile operator until 2015 despite repeated
calls from stakeholders on the need to have another operator to
enhance competition.
The barring of more operators was done despite the country's
telecommunication regulator, the Zambia Information and
Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA), showed there is enough
spectrum to license more operators in the southern African nation.
Currently, Zambia has three mobile service operators namely MTN
South Africa's subsidiary, MTN Zambia, India's Bharti Airtel
subsidiary, Airtel Zambia and Cell Z, a subsidiary of state-run
Zamtel.
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